Im possibly interested in becoming a teacher and I like washington and lee, but their education program is confusing. Does anyone know anything about it? I know they have an education minor. Does that give me a degree in education when taken with a different major? Or does that just mean I would take that, then go to grad school somewhere else?
Help!
Thanks!
W&L has just revamped their education program in the last few years. What grade do you want to teach? If you are teaching secondary school, then you would likely be able to major in that and minor in education and be able to be certified and begin teaching when you graduate. It pretty much works that way no matter where you go to school.
If you want to teach elementary ages, then you major in elementary education. W&L works with VMI and SVU (in Buena Vista) to offer some of the methods classes. Not sure how well it works. D is recent grad. When she started they were teamed with Mary Baldwin in Staunton which wasn’t at all convenient and she was looking at secondary. I think the new system will be better, but it may still be hard to coordinate classes and student teaching. I think they offer the chance to stay an extra semester to student teach but this is very expensive option.
I would go in straight away and talk to the education people and see what they tell you about the program. D has always wanted to teach. She started off wanting to teach HS history and was history major. Her plan was to get certified while there, but after several summers as camp counselor she decided she wanted to teach younger students. She is now doing MAT (Master Arts Teaching) which is an initial certification degree at our state university. It is 2 summers and a year. She did an intro education class and a practicum, plus the classes she knew a masters program would require such as developmental psych. Her practicum was great and gave her some great experience.
W&L does offer lots of tutoring and practicum opportunities for students interested in education that I also think are there to help students who might want to teach abroad or do TFA.
@scmom12 I’d probably do either secondary history or elementary!
Wait, so did your daughter go to W&L or one of those neighboring schools?
How difficult was it for your daughter to find a job?
Can you not do student teaching unless you do that extra semester?
D graduated W&L. She didn’t do anything with other schools…she was too far along to change to elementary as a major at the point they made the changes to the program and she decided to get her masters in elementary teaching afterward (Plus she loved her history studies). The only education dept.courses she took at W&L were an intro class and a practicum. She also took a poverty class on education issues. She graduated last year and started her MAT program here the same summer. She is currently student teaching and job hunting for the fall.
I know they added the extra semester as an option but I’m assuming you could do it in 4 years. It may depend on how soon you commit to the program so that classes work out and whether you’re doing elementary or secondary. What I’m not sure of is how going to other schools, as close as they are, messes with your ability to schedule your classes at W&L, especially with W&L’s winter/spring term format. This was all new D’s senior year so she really didn’t look at it too closely since didn’t apply to her.
Like I said, go talk to education instructors during your first semester to see how the program works now.